Guidance notes

The ‘Promenaders Musical Charities’ is a philantropic trust which collects money from audiences at the annual Henry Wood Promenade Concerts season in the Royal Albert Hall.  Money collected is distributed to musical charities which have applied to the Trust for funding. The Trust works in co-operation with, but is independent of, both the BBC who run the Proms season, and the Royal Albert Hall.

These notes are intended to assist and guide charities which may wish to apply to the Trust for funding.

1. Any organisation applying for funding must be registered as a charity in the UK The charity’s registered number must be included with the application.
2. The aims of a charity must be related to music. By this the trustees generally mean that either:
   1. It supports musicians or musical education e.g. musicians and singers needing help in retirement; assistance to performers who through illness or for other reasons are not able to carry on performing; assistance and support to young performers in the form of bursaries, the loan of instruments and materials, or in other ways. Or;
   2. It uses music as therapy to help people. This can include, but is not limited to, people in institutions, people with disabilities, people needing care.
3. Each application must be for a specific purpose. The Trust does not usually make awards for general funding or for on-going or open-ended programmes.
4. Each application must be fully costed with as detailed a description and breakdown of planned expenditure as possible.
5. There are some causes which the Trust is unable, or at least unlikely, to consider for funding:
   1. Funding for a specific venue e.g. a particular concert hall.
   2. Funding for a purpose which has a commercial aspect e.g. assistance in making a recording of a piece of music which will then be marketed.
   3. Funding for a specific performance e.g. a concert for which tickets will be sold.
   4. Funding for the composition of a piece of music.
6. Applications for funding for projects which fall outside the criteria given in sections 2 and 5 may in exceptional circumstances be considered by the trustees.
7. Applications for funding from collections during a Proms season must be received no later than the 31st of January preceding that season. Applications received after that date cannot be considered.
8. Applications may be submitted to the Secretary of the Trust in either electronic or printed form. The Secretary can give advice on the appropriate format for electronic submission. Please use the contact form for initial contact.
9. The trustees meet soon after the close of applications to draw up a short list of charities. This list is then consulted on, as widely as possible among promenaders, and in May the final set of charities is chosen. The charities are then advised of their success or failure.
10. Note that, any charity which has not been selected is welcome to apply again at a future date. If a charity has been excluded for one of the reasons listed above, it can re-apply in the future with a more suitable project
11. The names of the selected charities will be displayed on labels on the buckets used by collectors at the Albert Hall.
12. Please note that the trustees do not make interim payments, so any application which requires funding before or during a Proms season, is unlikely to be successful.
13. The trustees cannot guarantee that they will be able to allocate the full amount requested. Sums can only be paid on the basis of the money collected at the concerts.
14. After the end of the Proms season, when all money has been banked and the accounts reconciled, the trustees meet and apportion the amount collected among the selected charities.
15. As soon as the allocation has been made, cheques will be despatched to the respective charities. If any charity wishes to have a formal presentation and publicity, this can generally be arranged.
16. The trustees’ decisions are final, in both the selection of charities and the allocation of money. They are not subject to negotiation.